Shelfari - A PSA
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The last few weeks, I have been getting, on an average, one invite a day to join Shelfari. While some of them are from people that I know on a personal basis, a lot of them are from casual acquaintances (friends of friends and the types). And I asked one friend if she had sent me an invite, she said she had. But the same day she sent me an invite, I got two more invites from people who she had introduced to me and who I haven’t talked in about a year or more. And not only that, I am also getting “friendly reminders” a few days after the original invite.
So, I was very curious as to why I am getting so many invites (and reminders). The reason it got me so worried was, a few months ago a number of people seemed to have been conned into giving their Orkut profile info to another desi social networking site that spammed everyone of their friends. And those emails looked just like the ones from Shelfari? And now that I know exactly what happened, I don’t think I’d be wrong if I said that most of these people who “sent” me invites did not intend to do so.
This is what i did. Instead of clicking on any of the invites that I got, I went on Shelfari.com and chose an id, password and put in my usual spam id and voila. In the next screen, I saw this.
I think most people don’t read this properly and assume that they are asked to enter their login details again. I can’t think of any other reason. And once they do so, their Google address book is open for Shelfari to farm and send out invites. But again, to Shelfari’s defense, they have provided an way out. But for that, you actually have to read what is on the page.
So if you don’t intend to hear me cursing at you next time (if at all) we talk, here’s what you do - READ the damn page! And move your mouse over every single line of text. At the bottom of the email details frame, you see this (under either bottom corner of the said frame).
And voila, if you had followed my instructions and moved your mouse over each line, you’d find that one of these two pieces of text is actually a link! How sneaky is that! Click the link and you are in Shelfari and I don’t have any reason to curse you for your stupidity either.
So there. Become a member of any damn website that you want to be a member of. Just don’t give my email address to them. If there is something that is interesting on this Web 2.0 thingy, I am on the internet long enough every day that I’d have read about it extensively on Slashdot/Boing Boing/Gizmodo/Wired first before I got any invite from any of you n00bs!
Shelfari | DesiPundit http://www.desipundit.com/2007/10/07/shelfari/
October 7th, 2007 at 10:39 am[...] has a PSA regarding Shelfari. If you’re on Shelfari, and want to avoid spamming all your contacts, pay attention! I think [...]
shub
October 7th, 2007 at 9:46 pmTotally agree! Read the damn thing, people! I was wondering how the hell people I hadn’t spoken to in over a year suddenly thought to add me as a friend on the thing and when I signed up I saw the trick.
“If there is something that is interesting on this Web 2.0 thingy, I am on the internet long enough every day that I’d have read about it extensively on Slashdot/Boing Boing/Gizmodo/Wired first before I got any invite from any of you n00bs!” Heh, indeed!
rampantheart http://inscrutableingenue.blogspot.com
October 8th, 2007 at 10:24 amGreat post!I agree with you one hundred percent!Even i got a dozen invitations to join shelfari but i am alreaduy a member of librarything.i find it real great!
jillu http://jillumadras.blogspot.com
October 8th, 2007 at 11:11 amsame here anantha, was thinking like CC, WTF?
Lalita http://lalitalarking.blogspot.com
October 8th, 2007 at 12:13 pmI just deleted all the invites I received. And reminders too.
Happy Birthday, kid.
superstarksa http://superstarksa.com
October 8th, 2007 at 12:24 pmMissus Em: Thank you
Jillu: I know!
Rampantheart: Librarything?
Shub: Teehee.. Luckily the people who sent me the invites/reminders dont read the blog. At least I hope they don’t
danny
October 8th, 2007 at 1:06 pmShelfari is one of my favorite sites. Don’t let other peoples mistakes turn you off from it. If you would like to stop receiving emails from them, go to: http://www.shelfari.com/actions/emailoptout.aspx.
Also inviting your friends is completely optional. If you do choose to invite only a few of your friends, make sure to click on “Deselect all”.
Hope this helps!
superstarksa http://superstarksa.com
October 8th, 2007 at 1:53 pmDanny: This post was more about me finding fault with my friends. Of course, I can go and opt out of these things. But why should I be forced to go and opt myself out? Shouldn’t the members take responsibility and read what they are agreeing to?
Btw, what’s with commenting on every single blog post that mentions shelfari? You work for them, I presume.
shub
October 8th, 2007 at 6:48 pmBirthday? Happy Birthday, then!
Snap Judgement: superstarksa.com | Blog Archive | Shelfari - A PSA http://snapjudge.blogspot.com/2007/10/superstarksacom-blog-archive-shelfari.html
October 8th, 2007 at 8:04 pmsuperstarksa http://superstarksa.com
October 8th, 2007 at 8:42 pmShub: Thanks
Fleiger http://randamthots.blogspot.com
October 8th, 2007 at 11:59 pmI know… it is such a pain to get invitations and every-day reminders from all these “social” sites, that I have started to delete them without opening. In a way, this has definitely reinforced my desire to be as anti-social as possible.
amethyst
October 11th, 2007 at 7:17 amGot the link as well. For some reason the site was taking way too much time to get downloaded. Guess I just got plain lucky. Otherwise it would have been embarrassing. I am the kind who insist that my friends should not send any forwards unless they think it is par excellence. If an invite had gone in my name to all and sundry in the mailing list, I would never have heard the end of it.
amethyst
Aditya http://zaphod-da-broxgmail.com
October 13th, 2007 at 10:18 amThis is actually very annoying. There are a bunch of other sites that work exactly the same way - hi5, linkedin, yaar (or something)…
Very annoying..
rads http://kowthas.wordpress.com
October 19th, 2007 at 3:16 pmaha! Thank you!
Dushti http://http:dushti.blogspot.com
October 20th, 2007 at 1:45 amDuh…I missed the fine print and was cursing Shelfari
superstarksa http://superstarksa.com
October 20th, 2007 at 1:49 amDushti: Don’t be so hard on yourself. Most of us did.
Rads: Welcome welcome. Why are you thanking me?
Aditya: I know… The modus operandi seems the same, no? Shady, very shady.
Amethyst: Lucky you… anyways long time no see. How’s you?
Fleiger: I am anti-social as well. I am not built for these social networks. I may have 300 plus friends on Orkut, but that a reflection on how job-less I used to be a few years ago.
premalatha is your Yaar! :) « ?????? http://premalathakombaitamil.wordpress.com/2007/10/27/premalatha-is-your-yaar/
October 28th, 2007 at 3:42 amPlanet Cataloging http://planetcataloging.org
November 7th, 2007 at 12:09 pmThingology (LibraryThing’s ideas blog): Shelfari spam: “basically social networking rapists” http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2007/11/shelfari-spam-basically-social.php
November 9th, 2007 at 4:56 pm